I'll start with this review with pointing out that ANTHRAX ARE THE BEST LIVE BAND OUT OF THE BIG FOUR, and the last one I needed to check off my list. They're full of energy and are fucking great in terms of quality, traits I've failed to find in at least one show from each other Big Four band. Since the whole Big Four argument is a heavily opinionated matter (duh) I'm expecting at least two or three "uh, no, [insert your favorite Big Four band here] is much better than any Anthrax live", but that's just what I took from the show. This review won't be very in-depth, since I'm a bit tired right now, but hopefully it's enough to please your expectations ;)

I showed up to the venue about two hours before doors (inb4 ravenheart scolds me for wasting so much time), with a decent amount of people there already. Nothing much happened before the show started, but there was this one drunk dude who kept yelling out band names every few minutes, and approaching cars waiting to drive inside the venue's garage, asking if Anthrax were inside their vehicles. I was surprised he didn't hear a word from the guards, since I was sure they'd start getting annoyed after a few occurences of him doing that. Anyhow, he later complimented me on my hair (thank u drunk guy) and after overhearing an off-hand comment about Judas Priest to my friend from me, told me (in a matter-of-fact tone) that Judas Priest was fucking shit, because Rob Halford was gay. Decided not to get into that whole debate with him, and within the next half-hour we were inside.

For some reason, local melodeath/metalcore supergroup (a 'supergroup' only because their singer is Swedish, and if a Russian band has a non-Russian member, their cred immediately rises) Icon In Me got added to the bill the day of the show, so they opened up the show, to a surprisingly cool audience. I was expecting them to get boo'ed off or drowned out by chants of "ANTHRAX" since most of the audience was comprised of hardcore thrash fans, or old-timers who probably thought anything newer than 1989 was complete shit. The instrumentals weren't as bad as I expected them to be (not very core) but the clean vocal parts sounded awful. Liked the Fear Factory cover, even though I'm not much of a fan. Their set was as follows (from setlist.fm):

Anthrax began their set soon thereafter, to a wave of applause. Last time they were here (with Belladonna in summer of 2010), they only played 11 songs, so lots of people were left longing for more. Everybody in the band was at top form, though Rob looked a bit out of it for most of the show (;)); Joey was exceptionally good. An observation I made was that maybe the reason Anthrax was so good (so energetic in comparison to the other Big Four bands) is that they're the only Big Four band whose singer doesn't play on an instrument; I'd say this gives him a lot of flexibility and freedom. Caught in a Mosh, Deathrider, and Metal Thrashing Mad were the craziest (and best) songs in the set, stirring up a hellstorm of crowd-surfing and moshing. Interestingly enough, only two of the crowdsurfers actually made it to the barrier; most pushed their way back into the pit before they could be caught by the guards up front. During the war dance section in Indians, Scott Ian stopped the song twice, making sure that the circle pit (war dance) was good enough for his liking. Hearing I'm the Man was like a childhood dream come true, since it was one of my favorite songs back when I was 9 or 10. I caught a pick from Frank around the end, but since a friend of mine gave me Mikael Akerfeldt's pick at Opeth last month, I owed him a pick, so I gave him Bello's. Eh, not a big loss, since pick-wise I only care about Ian.

Worship
Earth on Hell
Fight 'Em Till You Can't
Caught in a Mosh :rocker:
Antisocial
The Devil You Know
Indians :rocker:
Hymn 1
In the End
Deathrider :rocker:
Medusa
Among the Living

Be All, End All
Madhouse
Metal Thrashing Mad :rocker: :rocker:
I'm the Man (partial) :rocker:
I Am the Law

treghet

03-19-2012, 01:12 PM

Nice review. Sucks they didn't keep Belly of the Beast in the set, but it's not surprising.

Maideneer

03-19-2012, 08:22 PM

Let me know when John Bush rejoins. Although Medusa is nice to see.

TheClairvoyant

03-20-2012, 03:58 AM

Let me know when John Bush rejoins. Although Medusa is nice to see.

You're joking right? :confused:

ravenheart

03-20-2012, 04:36 AM

:lol: at highlighting all the most boring songs.

anomynous

03-20-2012, 08:44 AM

lol, Bushthrax

ravenheart

03-20-2012, 09:19 AM

lol, Bushthrax

There must be a cream for that.

brutal_descent

03-20-2012, 10:36 AM

:lol: at highlighting all the most boring songs.

"Anthrax songs deemed boring by one man maybe be deemed awesome by another."

- Me

Maideneer

03-20-2012, 01:31 PM

You're joking right? :confused:

Dead serious.

ravenheart

03-20-2012, 01:41 PM

"Anthrax songs deemed boring by one man maybe be deemed awesome by another."

- Me

They all sound the same and have no variation. They are, by definition, the boring ones.

What you're actually saying is you like headbanging to fast songs more than you do to slow ones; like 90% of thrash fans. The quality or creativeness of the songs is irrelevant :finger:

PowerMaiden

03-20-2012, 08:24 PM

to answer your best live band of the so called big 4

here's how I see it

Slayer>Anthrax>Megadeth>Metallica

:2cents:

Cheers !
PowerMaiden

anomynous

03-20-2012, 08:35 PM

Anthrax > Metallica (say what you want about the music, they put on a good show > Slayer >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Megadeth